Intuitives say children can easily plug into the spirit world. It’s believed that since their souls haven’t been in bodies as long as adults, the young retain subconscious memories of the spirit world.

Family reactions impact ESP.

Sensitive Jason Lindo spoke at the Nevada Ghost and Paranormal Conference some years back. As a small child, he accompanied his grandmother to her mother’s grave for a visit. He saw a woman standing by the tombstone. Jason assumed his grandmother could see the woman as well. She didn’t, but when he described who he saw, his grandmother didn’t tell him it was his imagination. Instead, she told Jason he’d seen his great grandmother.

As a Hawaiian, Jason grew up with a strong oral tradition where his family shared and preserved its ghost stories. This made it easier for him to accept this gift without being frightened or ostracized. According to Jason, our different cultural and religious backgrounds dictate whether our abilities are nurtured or suppressed.

Imaginary friends may be spirits.

A friend of mine had an imaginary friend as a child. This relationship remains strong in her memory to this day. She questions whether her parents were right when they told her she made him up because everything about him seemed so real.

Caron Goode, a psychotherapist who wrote Kids Who See Ghosts: How to Guide Them through Fear, said you can tell if a child interacts with a spirit. One way parents may determine if their kids are really seeing something is by noticing the child’s reaction to it. Say your son sees a spirit and has a gut reaction that makes him run to tell you. Goode believes this is a sign that he’s really seen something.

Your child’s age is also an indicator: kids who are 7 or 8 are old enough to distinguish between real and make believe. Goode experienced repeated visits from a spirit visitor when she was eight.

Noted medium Edgar Cayce  recognized how easy it is to dampen our intuitive abilities. “An individuals’ growth in the awareness of their own intuition depends to a great extent on whether or not these natural experiences are ignored, scolded or allowed to be awakened. Psychic or soul energy is helped or hindered by both the individual and the environment in which they find themselves.”

Did you have psychic experiences or an imaginary friend as a child? If so, please share your stories with the rest of us.